P2.68 trillion General Appropriations Act

Labor group deplores measly budget allocation for programs for poor workers in Visayas and Mindanao

By TUCP
September 19, 2013

QUEZON CITY – The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) decried the paltry budget allocated to government’s unemployment and anti-poverty programs for poor workers in the poorest regions in the Visayas and Mindanao.

In a side briefing conducted by former National Treasurer and convenor of Social Watch Philippines Leonor Magtolis-Briones of the 2014 P2.68 trillion General Appropriations Act for the Trade Union Congress Party party-list, the regional allocation of the proposed 2014 budget showed only 18% or P224.7 billion for the Visayas and 24% or P501.1 billion for Mindanao – areas where high poverty incidence and growing unemployment and underemployment thrives.

Luzon, meanwhile, has 58% or P726 billion share of the proposed budget.

“The current priority structure of the budget is not in sync with the needs of the poorest of the poor. It neither promotes employment nor minimizes poverty in regions where poverty and lack of employment opportunities are chronic. Stakeholders have already identified these in the past but how come it’s not being addressed in the allocation of the national budget?,” said Gerard Seno, executive vice president of Associated Labor unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP).

Seno said bigger budget should be allocated to these poor provinces towards the improvement of workers’ skills, greater diversification of production and processing of by-products in agriculture. He noted, as examples, the National High-Value Crops Program (NHVCP) of the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the training, livelihood and enterprise development of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

The NHVCP includes extension of support, education and training services to farmers, irrigation network services and provision of agricultural equipment and facilities support services. The NHVCP in Mindanao regions, he said, only have P337.1 million while NCR and other areas in Luzon have a total of P1.4 billion.

On one hand, the DOLE’s budget for its employment facilitation and capacity building and support services for employment generation for the vulnerable sector to help workers graduate into more productive and secure a formal employment or livelihood has P491.1 million for Mindanao and P445.2 million for NCR and the rest of provinces in Luzon.

The 2012 Poverty Statistics of the National Statistical Coordination Board showed 11 of the 16 poorest areas are located in Mindanao. These are Cotabato City, North Cotabato, Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Lanao del Norte, Sultan Kudarat, Basilan, Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga Sibugay, Bukidnon and Davao Oriental. Majority of workers in these regions are agricultural laborers and unskilled workers – the lowest paying occupational group with a mandated wage of P232 to P252 a day.

Poor provinces in the Visayas region include Negros Oriental, Southern Leyte, Eastern, Northern and Western Samar. Agricultural workers in these regions are mandated to receive P245 to P362 per day compared to P419 in the National Capital Region.

The budget alloted for the Visayas regions for the same DA and DOLE programs are P748.8 million and P445.2 million, respectively.